The Doctrine of Christ

 This week we finish the book of 2 Nephi, and in so doing say goodbye to the prophet Nephi, son of Lehi.  One of my goals this year in my scripture study was to pay attention to mentions of the Savior in the Book of Mormon.  If you have been following my blog, you will know that I have been tracking how much Nephi and Lehi knew about Jesus at different times in their lives and travels.  When Lehi first saw a vision of God, he saw the Messiah, but didn't know who he was. (1 Nephi 9-10). Gradually, over the next decades, Nephi gradually learned that Jesus would come, suffer for our sins, die, and be resurrected (2 Nephi 11).  By the end of his life, Nephi understands the whole "doctrine of Christ".  Moreover, he has seen a vision of the future of not only his descendants, but also of the gentiles. 

It is interesting that Nephi seems to get this very vital information primarily after his people have separated from the Lamanites. I think we can guess that, by Nephi's death, the Lamanites are still trying, in some way or other, to live the Law of Moses.  We know that Nephi took that brass plates with him when he fled from his brothers, so it is possible that by this time they have already strayed from the worship they had experienced in Jerusalem and are now fully integrated in the culture and belief of the  native peoples of the promised land. In either case, they probably know very little if anything about Jesus and the atonement. As evidence of this, later when Ammon preaches to the king of the Lamanites, he doesn't have a clue about Christian worship. 

Here I have a confession. I also didn't really understand the Doctrine of Christ until recently.  Oh sure, I knew that 4th Article of Faith and the first four principles of the Gospel, but when I went to the temple made covenants during the Endowment, I wasn't sure what I was covenanting to when I promised to obey the Law of the Gospel.  I cast my mind for a meaning and decided that the Law of the Gospel probably referred to the "higher law" preached in the sermon on the mount. This was not a bad assumption.  Jesus did, after all, preach that sermon to both the old and new world saints, so it must have been important.  It wasn't until they changed the wording of the Endowment in February 2023 that I found out that the "Law of the Gospel" is the same as the "Doctrine of Christ" explained in the last 3 chapters of 2 Nephi.  I admit that it was a bit of a relief.  I understand that the Sermon on the Mount was given as much to comfort suffering saints as to encourage them to live a higher standard, but it still sets a pretty high bar for behavior that I knew I was daily falling short of. When I heard the new changes to the Endowment, I thought, "Is that really all it is: faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, obedience to covenants and enduring to the end?  I can do that." Of course, those are no small things, but they seem more attainable then never getting angry, or being a light to the world, or plucking out my right eye if it offends me. (Matthew 5: 22-30)  So yay for the new changes to the temple ceremony and yay for the last three chapters of 2 Nephi.

The Prophecy of the Scriptures from the Lost Tribes.

 In 2 Nephi 29:12-13 Nephi gives a prophecy that three different groups of people will write scripture that will eventually be known to all three groups.

"For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth, and they shall write it.

And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and Jews."

It is pretty clear that the words of the Jews is the Bible, and the words of the Nephites is the Book of Mormon, but there has been much speculation about the words of the lost tribes and how they might be discovered and distributed to the other groups. The podcasters I listened to this week alluded to some future day when the records of other people Jesus visited will be revealed and how wonderful that would be. That might be how this prophecy is fulfilled but I had another idea that I haven't really heard put forward before. 

What if this prophecy was fulfilled by Joseph Smith?  In my mind Joseph Smith's revelations recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants meet all the requirements of this passage.  Was Joseph Smith from one of the lost tribes?  Yes, he, like the majority of modern American members of the church is from the tribe of Ephraim, which is one of the lost tribes. Did the Lord speak to him?  Yes, Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus in his first vision and then received many revelations from Jesus throughout his life. Did Joseph Smith write the words that he received and are they now available to the descendants of Lehi, to the Jews, and to the whole world?  Yes, the words Joseph Smith received that have been canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants are now available world wide wherever they are allowed to be published and in many languages. 

The scripture ends with the promise, "and I will speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it."  As time goes on and the general leadership of the church becomes more diverse, this part of the prophecy is also fulfilled.  Right now in the the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, we have members from North America, Europe, and South America.  We have other general authorities from Asia and Africa and Australia that speak at conference and their words are written and made available freely to the world through the church website. 

I don't think we need to wait for a day when some long-lost ancient civilization is discovered that has records of Jesus visiting them in the meridian of time.  We just need to study the standard works and listen prayerfully to General Conference. 

A Note about Anointing

 In this week's lesson there are several passages that refer to the "anointed one".  In 2 Nephi 25:16 Nephi refers to both the Christ and the Messiah.  Both these titles mean "the anointed one"  In 2 Nephi 20 it says, "And it shall come to pass in that day his burden shall be taken away from thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing."  Of course, these are not the only scriptures that reference anointing.  The Old Testament accounts of temple worship includes several instances where people or things are anointed.  Kings and priests were anointed as part of their investiture. Jesus is repeatedly called either Christ or Messiah. 

I have long wondered how the tradition of anointing something got started, and why applying oil to something is a symbol of sanctification and empowerment.  It was clearly seen as beneficial to have oil put on something in the olden days, but why?  What did it accomplish in real life that made it a good symbol in a ceremony?

When I googled the question, I got a variety of responses.  One said that anointing something was a symbol of preparing it for burial.  Still another said that the presence of oil represented the presence of the Holy Spirit.  These may be all true, but they don't really answer my question. Why was oil used in burial? Why did oil represent the Holy Spirit?  Other pages said that oil was a symbol of prosperity and that it was sometimes used as medium of exchange, like money.  That is getting a little closer to my question.  Maybe by putting oil on something you are communicating that it is valuable.  But was oil really the most valuable thing in their society?  Why not call the Messiah the "golden one." instead of the "anointed one?" 

This week on one of my morning walks I hit upon an idea that may or may not be true, but it makes sense to me. (I haven't seen this idea anywhere else, so I may be totally off).  What if the main value of oil, beyond just as a calorie source, was as a lubricant. In ancient Israel all the simple machines they would have used in their day to day life were made out of either metal, stone, or wood--wheels, pullies, cranks, grinding stones, etc.  How much better would one of these things work if it were lubricated? If you had a wooden shaft with a wooden wheel, that wheel would not turn very well and would quickly wear out unless it was generously lubricated.  If you have a metal crank or pully, with metal against metal, how much easier it would work if it was lubricated.  They hadn't invented ball bearings yet. All these things would heat up or wear out, or be hard to turn if not lubricated.  

I can imagine that in an iron age society putting oil on something could be associated with making it work better. Anointing could be synonymous with enabling. So if you want a king to be a good king and work well, without wearing out, you put oil on him.  You know it won't actually make him work better, like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, but the symbol is obvious and clear to you. Could it be that simple?

In ancient rituals in the Old Testament, olive oil was used.  Many have discussed the symbolic significance of olive oil. It is only produced under great pressure, and once created, it does not spoil or go rancid as easily as animal fat would. It is costly to produce and edible, so it is a symbol of prosperity and wealth. The symbolism is particularly apt if you think of Christ, suffering for our sins, as like the olive being crushed in the olive press to bring us healing, nurturing oil. 

In ancient as well as modern temple ritual, olive oil is symbolically applied to different parts of the body and a prayer is offered promising that that part of the body will function well.  In the ancient temple and tabernacle, it was applied to different parts of the temple so they would work well and be protected.  I like the idea of people putting oil on something and thinking, "there you go.  Now you will work better."  If Jesus is "the" anointed one, the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), then perhaps he works best of all.  His work is the most efficacious, like a well oiled instrument, at accomplishing his purposes.

A picture of the oldest oil flask ever found intact.

A New Look at the Isaiah Chapters

This week in Come Follow Me we are reading 2 Nephi 1-19, which contain the first of the Isaiah chapters.  Nephi quotes, with small variation, Isaiah 2-9.  The Isaiah chapters are difficult because they is so steeped in symbolism and references to current events.  If you don't understand the current events of Isaiah's times, it is almost impossible to understand his symbolism. If you do understand the historical context, you can begin to apply what was happening in Isaiah's time to what was happening in Nephi's day. 

In these chapters, Isaiah is in Jerusalem and the city is worried because they are being threatened by the Northern tribes of Israel who have united Syria. They want to capture Jerusalem and take over the temple. Jewish leaders are considering asking for help from Egypt to defend Jerusalem, but Isaiah is urging them to not rely on Egypt, but instead rely on the Lord. He promises them that within only a few years, Israel and Syria will no longer be a threat. 

So why did Nephi spend a lot of time and effort rewriting Isaiah passages as part of his sacred record, when they were already present on the Plates of Brass?  In 2 Nephi 11, Nephi gives four reasons for including the passages;

1. Prove the truth of the coming of Christ (v. 4)

2. Show the covenants God made with their fathers (v. 5)

3. That his people might lift up their hearts and rejoice. (v. 6)

5. That his people might liken them to themselves. (v. 2, 6)

A lot has been said about how these passages foreshadow the coming of Christ.  Many messianic prophesies can be found in these chapters. That is not going to be where I will focus today.  I am more interested in how the people of Nephi might have felt "like" the people at the time of Isaiah, and how the covenants of the Lord might give them comfort. 

I am going back to my idea mentioned a couple of weeks ago, that the Lamanites might have united with indigenous people.  We know from 2 Nephi 5:20 that the Nephite's felt threatened by the Lamanites and felt compelled to make swords for his people modeled after the sword of Laban. If the Lamanites had united with indigenous people, the situation of the Nephites would have closely mirrored the situation of the Jews in the days of Isaiah. Like the Jews, the Nephites would have been a smaller, more vulnerable force facing and enemy made of their kinsmen who had united with outside groups.  Maybe, like the people of Jerusalem, the Nephites were feeling pressure to also join with outside groups in order to defend themselves against the Lamanites.  I am proposing that Nephi included these specific chapters from Isaiah to try to convince his people to remain separate from the local cultures and instead rely on the Lord to defend them from the Lamanites. I think Nephi knew that in order for his people to maintain the worship of Jehovah and their cultural identity as the covenant people of Israel, they needed to stay isolated. He might have included these passages to give his people encouragement and show that God is faithful in defending his covenant people, even against superior forces. 

Of course, we know that in Isaiah's day, Jerusalem did survive the attack of the Northern tribes, and that those tribes were soon after taken into captivity by the Assyrians and ultimately lost their cultural identity.  Through Nephi's emphasis on the words of Isaiah, the Nephites were also able to remain true to their covenants and maintain their cultural identity as followers of Jehovah for many generations.